Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon takes a cathartic trek through the Wild

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Wild
  • IMDb: link

WildBased on Cheryl Strayed‘s real-life experience of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, Wild stars Reese Witherspoon as the troubled new divorcee with no real hiking experience who latches onto the unlikely project of a 1,100-mile solo-hike as a means to deal with the mistakes of her past.

Adapted for film by Nick Hornby, Cheryl’s self-driven journey is inter-cut with scenes from her childhood and young adulthood involving her mother (Laura Dern), her promiscuity and drug use, and her relationship with her former husband (The Newsroom‘s Thomas Sadoski).

Director Jean-Marc Vallée offers an interesting character study of a flawed woman’s attempt to achieve a moment of greatness. Dreadfully slow in parts, and often lingering too long on some of its flashback sequences, Wild succeeds as a character-driven drama even if it all feels a bit by-the-book (so to speak). Similar in themes to Into the Wild, Strayed’s story speaks to a rebirth of sorts through nature although without a look forward as to whether or not the transformative journey actually led to lasting change.

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Mud

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Mud
  • IMDB: link

MudWhen two teenager boys in the Arkansas bayou discover a hermit named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) living in a boat stuck high in a tree after a recent flood it’s an encounter that will forever change all three of their lives. As a coming of age story, at its best Mud reminds you of Great Expectations or To Kill A Mockingbird as Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) get drawn into Mud’s world and learn hard lessons of life and love.

The themes of Mud keep recurring (perhaps a tad too neatly) as Mud’s troubled relationship with his ex Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) is mirrored with Ellis’ own early experiences with love and the impending divorce of his parents (Michael Shannon, Sarah Paulson) that threatens to destroy his home. Much of the plot deals with an old enemy (Joe Don Baker) of Mud out for revenge, but the real focus of the movie isn’t on the tension-building search for convict but on how Ellis and Mud’s experiences both change how they view the world and women.

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Reese Witherspoon in Russia with Marie Claire

/ / Books & Magazines

For the October issue Academy Award winning actress Reese Witherspoon sat down in Moscow for an interview for Marie Claire and posed for a cover shoot spread.

Witherspoon was in Moscow to celebrate Avon’s 125th anniversary and help launch their campaign against domestic violence in Russia (who has no laws against the crime). In the interview Witherspoon discusses her fear of public speaking, getting over her divorce to Ryan Phillippe, her struggle as a single parent, her marriage to Hollywood talent agent Jim Toth, and learning to get over her fear of travel

Check out the video of her photoshoot as well as pics from the cover shoot inside.

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Monsters vs. Aliens

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Monsters vs. Aliens
  • IMDB: link

monsters-vs-aliens-posterFinally some truth in advertising. From the title alone you should know whether Monsters vs. Aliens is going to be your cup of tea. Do you want to see animated monsters fight animated aliens? If so, here’s your chance.

Susan Murphy’s (Reese Witherspoon) wedding day is ruined when the power from a strange asteroid makes her grow into a 50-foot woman. For her own safety she is detained by the government and sent to a top-secret lab to be housed with other monsters including the not so bright blob B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), the half-bug/half-man mad scientist Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), the Missing Link (Will Arnett), and the massive Insectasoris.

The monsters are released by General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland, in a pretty forgettable role), and offered their freedom for their assistance when an alien Squidbilly (Rainn Wilson) attacks the planet looking for the powerful meteorite and not caring who he has to kill to get it.

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